Waste, such as plastic bottles, plastic bags and other detritus, and even hydrocarbons such as leaked oil are increasingly present in the world's water bodies. There are different ways to collect floating waste in harbors, water reservoirs (lakes, ponds), rivers (rivers, canals) and coastal areas.
There are manual solutions where workers maneuver motorized boats, collect the waste with a dip net and store them in bins. For hydrocarbons, floating dams can be used to contain pollution. Absorbent fabrics can be used to absorb the hydrocarbon or oil waste. These materials are then collected and treated. Dispersants can also be used to reduce an oil slick to fine particles that disperse in water. A vacuum head, weir skimmer or brush skimmer can also be used to collect oil spills.
Mechanized solutions include vehicles specifically designed to perform clean-up operations. These vehicles, maneuvered by on-board human operators, are able to collect floating wastes by a grid bucket and to collect the hydrocarbons by separating them from the water. Since at least 2016, a method taking a form of a submerged suction bin immersed in water that sucks all types of floating waste has been in use.
The submerged suction bin solution has the advantage of being able to operate continuously without the need for a human operator at all times (except to recover the waste collected) but the collection perimeter is very small (a few meters). It is necessary to multiply the equipment for treating large areas. In addition, the power consumption required to power all the pumps to suck the waste continuously then becomes considerable.
Robotic solutions can include wire-guided waste collection modules. This type of module allows the recovery of waste located in port corners, which can be hard to reach and between parked boats. These can include an aquatic drone that collects floating waste in aquatic areas. Current solutions based on wire-guided devices make it possible to collect wastes remotely but remain difficult to implement in congested and/or remote areas because of the permanent link between the machine and the operator. In addition, each machine requires an operator to control the movements. The cost of using these devices remains high, which makes it difficult to envisage the collection of waste in large areas.
Another robot accumulates the waste between its two hulls but once returned to the base, the accumulated waste is dumped in one place. Then the waste must be picked up again. In addition, in the event of reverse movement, current or waves, wastes can easily come out of the robot. However, the weight of the robot can be considerable so it is difficult or impossible to put it in the water or take it out by one person. The length of the drone can be 1.56 meters. A robot of this size is difficult to transport and launch. Access to tight spaces (in the corners and between boats) is extremely complicated for such a large robot.
Another robot of 1.2 meters long have a duration of use between two refills limited to 2 hours. Its collection capacity is very limited because the waste collector is an articulated landing net. Waste recovery is done manually by emptying the landing net already attached to the robot.
Manual waste collection is still a widely used solution for cleaning aquatic areas with significant human resources. These operations therefore have a significant cost for communities or port managers, which limits the frequency and completeness of clean-up operations. In addition, this exposes workers to significant health risks in contact with pollutants.
Thus, there is a need for marine apparatus for waste collection that is highly maneuverable, man-portable and has a waste collection system that can be easily accessed by a user and reduces overall cost of operation.